RICHMOND — A man escaped his car right before a train totaled the vehicle this morning after he mistakenly drove onto the tracks, police said.

The collision was reported about 7:15 a.m. at Carlson and Cutting boulevards, police said. The driver told police that he was unfamiliar with the road and his vision of the roadway was obscured by fog, and he inadvertently turned onto the train tracks thinking it was a street.

Police said the man’s vehicle got stuck on the tracks, and that he got out as soon as he heard an oncoming train.

The vehicle was destroyed, but the driver was not injured. It was not immediately clear how train service was affected. A spokesperson for Amtrak could not be immediately reached this morning.

Robert Salonga is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter covering crime and public safety for The Mercury News. A San Jose native, he attended UCLA and has a Master's degree in journalism from the University of Maryland. He previously reported in Washington, D.C., Salinas and the East Bay, and is a middling triathlete. Reach him the low-tech way at 408-920-5002.